Blue Ridge PRISM

Learn to identify invasive plants 🌾with Blue Ridge PRISM. Join this free tour on Thursday, June 9th from 9-11am to learn tips, tricks, and more.

Register today: https://piedmontgarden.org/event/june-invasive-plant-walk-with-blue-ridge-prism/

⛰️ Headed outdoors this weekend? Help protect the places you love by remembering to PlayCleanGo®.

🥾 Did you know invasive plants can hitch a ride on your boots, clothing, pets, bikes, boats, and outdoor gear? A few seeds caught in a shoelace or a muddy tire can spread invasive species to new places without your even realizing it.

👉🏼 At the end of your next adventure, take one more step:
✔ Brush off your boots
✔ Remove mud, seeds, and plant material
✔ Check clothing, pets, and gear
✔ Clean, drain, and dry boats and watercraft

These simple actions help protect the forests, trails, waterways, and natural areas we all enjoy.

🗓️ PlayCleanGo Awareness Week begins tomorrow and runs from National Trails Day to National Get Outdoors Day. At the end of the week, Blue Ridge PRISM will be installing a new boot brush station at a local park. Stay tuned!

👇🏼 What do you do to prevent the spread of invasive species after your adventures? Tell us in the Comments.

🌿 W**D MANAGEMENT & CONTROL – After you learn to identify invasive plants in summer, learn what to do about them!

🪏 Join us for a FREE online webinar where you’ll learn how to manage and control invasive plants in the summer season. Techniques will include manual and mechanical methods, as well as careful, strategic use of herbicides where necessary. Come ready to learn practical management skills that you can apply on your own property to help curb the spread of invasives. You’ll get a chance to ask questions at the end.

🗓️ Wednesday, June 17, 2026, 1-2 pm
👉🏼 Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GumtuYIfQqu57V52-Qsgug #/registration

🔎 Also: Don’t miss out on the Invasive Plants in Summer: Introduction & Identification on Tuesday, June 16, 1-2 pm. Here’s more information: https://blueridgeprism.info/event/summer-invasive-plant-introduction-identification/

Blue Ridge PRISM Blue Ridge Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM) is a 501(c)(3) public charity. We provide education, training, site visits, w**d alerts, ID & Control app, and volunteer management tools for invasive plant removal.

🌿 W**D IT WEDNESDAY: Asiatic dayflower (Commelina communis), beefsteak plant (Perilla frutescens), curly dock (Rumex crispus) & many more!

🔎 Our invasive management specialists will teach you how to identify dozens of plants you may need to w**d during Invasive Plants in Summer: Introduction & Identification. Join us for this FREE online webinar, where you’ll learn ID features from stems and leaves to flowers and fruit, plus habitat and native lookalikes.

🗓️ Tuesday, June 16, 2026, 1-2 pm
👉🏼 Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CI7304ESRjuwH3wujaBp4w #/registration

Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, this session will provide valuable insights — so come and enhance your knowledge and skills in plant identification. You’ll get a chance to ask questions at the end.

🪏 Also: Don’t miss out on the Invasive Plants in Summer: Management & Control webinar on Wednesday, June 17, 1-2 pm. Here’s more information: https://blueridgeprism.info/event/summer-invasive-plant-management-control/

Virginia Invasive Plant Coalition

☀️ We've Got Sunny Skies for This Week’s ID Walks at Ridgeview Park, Carrier Arboretum, Hoover Ridge Park, and Greene County Park

🌿 Join Jacob Edel, Invasive Management Specialist at Blue Ridge PRISM, for FREE field training sessions. You’ll learn how to identify invasive plants in the late spring/early summer. These sessions include a short hike along trails, some with uneven surfaces.

Here are the dates for each location:
📍Ridgeview Park, Waynesboro
🗓️ Tuesday, June 2, 9-11 am

📍Carrier Arboretum, Harrisonburg
🗓️ Wednesday, June 3, 9-11 am

📍Hoover Ridge Park, Madison
🗓️ Thursday, June 4, 9-11 am

📍Greene County Park, Ruckersville
🗓️ Friday, June 5, 9-11 am

✍️ For more information and to RSVP/register, visit: https://blueridgeprism.info/events/month/

PS — We’ll have workdays at all locations later in June.

@virginiainvasiveplantcoalition

☀️ We Promise Sunshine for This Week’s ID Walks at Blandy/State Arboretum, Eastham Park, Crockett Park, and Banshee Reeks

🌿 Join Natali Walker, Invasive Management Specialist at Blue Ridge PRISM, for FREE field training sessions. You’ll learn how to identify invasive plants in the late spring/early summer. These sessions include a short hike along trails, some with uneven surfaces.

Here are the days/times for each location:
📍Blandy Experimental Farm/State Arboretum, Boyce
🗓️ Tuesday, June 2, 10-10:45 am

📍Eastham Park, Front Royal
🗓️ Wednesday, June 3, 10-10:45 am

📍C.M. Crockett Park, Midland
🗓️ Thursday, June 4, 10-10:45 am

📍Banshee Reeks, Leesburg
🗓️ Friday, June 5, 10-10:45 am

✍️ For more information and to RSVP/register, visit: https://blueridgeprism.info/events/month/

PS — We’ll have workdays at all locations later in June.

⭐️ Partner Spotlight: ReLeaf Cville — Saving trees to save lives

👏🏻 ReLeaf Cville is rooted in a simple truth: Trees save lives — so we save trees. We protect Charlottesville's health by expanding and maintaining the tree canopy, focusing on neighborhoods impacted by rising heat as the climate changes. We do this by planting trees, preserving mature trees, and educating the next generation of environmental leaders.

🌿 Invasive plants threaten the trees we plant by outcompeting them for resources, straining their branches, and blocking sunlight. Aggressive vines and groundcovers deprive trees of nutrients and can become a physical hazard, making the tree susceptible to disease or toppling in high winds. By identifying and removing invasive plants, we ensure the trees we plant grow strong, provide shade, and benefit homeowners and wildlife in our city.

🌳 Blue Ridge PRISM is a key partner that helps us educate our Green Team to identify invasive species and advise on their removal. “We rely on PRISM people and printed resources to lend expertise, helping to educate our Green Team and the wider community about invasive management,” said Cathy Boyd, ReLeaf Cville Executive Director. “We look forward to their participation as a community partner in Cville Tree Week, Charlottesville's first-ever community celebration of trees, November 1-7, 2026."

👉🏼 Learn more about ReLeaf Cville and their programs here: https://www.releafcville.org/
Join us for Cville Tree Week, November 1-7, 2026.

Photos courtesy of RCA:
• A Green Team member learns how to climb trees like a professional arborist.
• Green Team members learn about invasives that compromise tree health.
• The Green Team gathers before planting trees in the Woolen Mills.

Virginia Invasive Plant Coalition

🔥 Join our webinar on Virginia's 6 "five-alarm-fire" species today at noon!

🥪 In our FREE "brown bag" webinar, learn about the "five-alarm fire" plants that are sweeping across Virginia’s landscapes with the potential for ecological devastation.

🔎🪏 We'll focus on how to identify and control these 6 invasive plants and why it's essential to make them your top priorities if you find them on the land you steward.

👉🏼 Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yqaIVOY4T9WrNBHThs2Oyw

Virginia Invasive Plant Coalition

🌿 W**D IT WEDNESDAY: Wavyleaf grass (Oplismenus undulatifolius)

This fast-spreading perennial can carpet the forest floor, shading out ephemeral wildflowers, ferns, and other understory plants, and preventing tree seeds from germinating. In late May, look for low-growing patches in shaded woods, especially along trails, streams, bottomlands, and moist forested slopes.

🔥 Learn more tomorrow during our "6 Five-Alarm-Fire Plants" Webinar. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/.../WN_yqaIVOY4T9WrNBHThs2Oyw...

🔎 ID:
• Low-growing, trailing grass usually 6–12 inches high, with arching stems
• Medium- to deep-green leaves, 2–4 inches long, and distinctly wavy from side to side like Ruffles potato chips
• Leaf bases touching stems but not wrapping around them
• Stems covered with short white hairs
• White flower spikelets with dark purple awns — sharp, narrow, pointed seeds — in July continuing into fall

🪏 Control:
• Hand-pull small populations, removing all stolon fragments to prevent resprouting.
• Remove tiny seedlings, which look like miniature mature plants.
• Leave plants pulled before seed to dry and decompose.
• For large infestations, use a grass-specific herbicide, such as clethodim, from April through June except near wetlands or streams. In wet areas, use aquatic-safe glyphosate.
• Complete treatment before seed set.
• Do not walk through wavyleaf or allow pets to do so when it is in seed — awns are very sticky!
• Clean boots, clothing, pets, and equipment carefully after working in wavyleaf.
• Monitor for several years — missed plants, seedlings, and fresh introductions may require follow-up treatment.

👉🏼 Further information:
• Fact sheet:https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6727dc893768d62b217ee6fd/t/673309571d5e7e69e90e33ed/1731397977928/Wavyleaf-Factsheet-2021-9-9-v1-FINAL+%281%29.pdf
• Webinar — "The problem with wavyleaf grass": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwbe-DzYcYY

Photo credits:
Forest — Kerrie L. Hyde, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Bugwood.org
Dog — Vanessa Beauchamp

🔥 Join our webinar this Thursday to learn about 6 invasives blazing across Virginia!

🥪 These 6 "five-alarm fire" plants are sweeping across the state with the potential for ecological devastation — incised fumewort, lesser celandine, Japanese knotw**d, Oriental bittersweet, two-horned trapa, and wavyleaf grass (in the order shown above).

🔎🪏 Our "brown bag" webinar on 5/28 at noon will focus on how to identify and control these 6 invasive plants and why it's essential to make them your top priorities if you find them on the land you steward.

👉🏼 Register now: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yqaIVOY4T9WrNBHThs2Oyw